# Preinserted text in tables displays in italics **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2019, 2:28pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400 "2019-02-21T14:28:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![M\_Magnuson](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/m_magnuson/32/152_2.png) [@M\_Magnuson](https://cl.desmos.com/u/M_Magnuson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 2:28pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/1 "2019-02-21T14:28:54Z")
In the activity below, I have some tables with inserted text. However, that text is being interpreted as math and so shows in italics. Is there a way to get that text displayed as text? This issue is not critical to the functioning of the activity, just a minor annoyance. > **[Feed Mr Walters to the Shark • Activity Builder by Desmos](https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5c65fb941431c7572b37eca8)** > > Students are to use their skills in projectile motion analysis to predict the landing position of a projectile. ---
**Author:** ![JayChow](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/jaychow/32/1674_2.png) [@JayChow](https://cl.desmos.com/u/JayChow)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/2 "2019-02-21T15:36:23Z")
Click on the triangle in the top right hand corner of each column and select “format as text”. You’ll have to go through your cells and put backticks around everything you want to be math. ---
**Author:** ![M\_Magnuson](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/m_magnuson/32/152_2.png) [@M\_Magnuson](https://cl.desmos.com/u/M_Magnuson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/3 "2019-02-21T20:12:43Z")
Thank you for the quick response. I thought it was a simple fix. ---
**Author:** ![gajohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@gajohn](https://cl.desmos.com/u/gajohn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/4 "2020-04-22T00:08:12Z")
What if we want our table to include a mixture of text and math? Using the fix above, we can either set as all text or all math. Not sure if the pic I am attaching will work, but here are some things I would like to appear in the table: “has a slope of 2/3” “has a y-intercept of 6” “is increasing” The problem is if I format as math, the “int” in intercept turns an integral sign, and the “sin” in interpreted as the trig ratio sin ![table text2](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/uploads/desmos/original/1X/d50092673f1f93e1254165896b25723c9c14186f.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![gajohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@gajohn](https://cl.desmos.com/u/gajohn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/5 "2020-04-22T00:24:49Z")
Still interested in the answer to my question, but found workarounds: -for “intercept”, type “in tercept”, then remove the space -for “is increasing”, change to “increases”. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Grubbs](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/daniel_grubbs/32/719_2.png) [@Daniel\_Grubbs](https://cl.desmos.com/u/Daniel_Grubbs)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/6 "2020-04-22T15:43:44Z")
If you set the column to “format as text” and set the content in the CL, using backticks around the parts you want to format as math, then it will display as you want. Example: cellContent(2,1): “has a `y-`intercept of `6`” ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Holcomb](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/jeff_holcomb/32/433_2.png) [@Jeff\_Holcomb](https://cl.desmos.com/u/Jeff_Holcomb)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/7 "2020-04-26T18:42:42Z")
I’ve got the reverse question now. I have a column that needs to be numbers except for the entry (1,2). It would be nice to have that as text. I messed about some with latex commands `$...` `\textrm` `{normal text}...$` but no luck so far. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Grubbs](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/daniel_grubbs/32/719_2.png) [@Daniel\_Grubbs](https://cl.desmos.com/u/Daniel_Grubbs)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/preinserted-text-in-tables-displays-in-italics/400/8 "2020-04-26T23:25:32Z")
I don’t think you can do the reverse. Just use backticks for all the numbers.